Mass Suicide by Members of the Japanese Friend of the Truth Church
- 1 September 1989
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
- Vol. 19 (3) , 289-296
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1943-278x.1989.tb00214.x
Abstract
This paper reports an instance of mass suicide committed by seven members of a local religious cult following the leader's death in Japan in November 1986. The case is discussed from the following viewpoints: (1) a Japanese feudal form of suicide called Junshi; (2) religion and current social changes in Japanese society; and (3) the destructive aspects of a cult.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Death in Jonestown: Techniques of Political Control by a Paranoid LeaderSuicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 1980
- Coercive persuasion (brainwashing), religious cults, and deprogrammingAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1979